Unlimited Credit
Breakfast time.
The menu was leftover ramen broth from yesterday, poured over a bowl of rice.
For an S-rank witch's diet, it was downright pitiful — but Elise didn't complain.
"Hey."
"Yes."
"Water."
She jerked her chin. I fetched her a glass and set it down.
"Hey."
"Yes."
"Tissue."
I pulled one free and wiped the corner of her mouth.
She worked me like someone without hands or feet of her own. The atmosphere, though, had shifted. Where it used to feel like a tyrant lording over a slave, it now felt closer to a little sister clinging to her older brother.
"You. What's your schedule today?"
"Facility inspection in the morning, then I have to report to the Director in the afternoon."
"The Director?"
Elise's spoon stopped. Her brow furrowed.
"Why are you meeting that woman?"
"It's a work report. And I need to confirm the penthouse repair schedule."
"……Don't go."
"Excuse me?"
"Just stay here and hang out with me. I'll pay you."
Here we go again. Throwing money around.
I shook my head.
"I can't. How is a salaried worker supposed to play hooky?"
"Boring."
She pouted and stirred the broth with her spoon.
"Then come back fast. Within an hour."
"It'll take two hours."
"An hour and a half. Any later and I'm busting into the Director's office."
The compromise settled at ninety minutes.
I finished eating in a hurry and pulled on my uniform. As I stood before the mirror knotting my tie, I felt a gaze on my back.
Elise was sitting on the bed, staring straight at me. Her eyes tracked the nape of my neck, my rolled-up sleeves, and the fingers working the knot.
"What is it? Is there something on my face?"
"No."
She slid off the bed and came up behind me.
"Because you suck at it."
"Pardon?"
"Your tie's crooked, idiot."
She stepped in front of me and yanked the tie with rough hands. It had looked fine in the mirror, but she undid a perfectly good knot and started tying it over again.
She was close. The scent of shampoo and warm skin washed over me. She bit down on her lip in concentration, wrestling with the fabric. Every time her fingertips brushed the back of my neck, her scorching body heat bled through.
"By the way, Inmate."
"What."
"Are you rich?"
I asked while she was still working the tie. She blinked at the sudden question.
"Money? You mean those paper scraps?"
"Yes. You keep saying you'll pay me, but you're a prisoner. Where would the money come from?"
Even last time, hadn't she settled my potion bill in pure mana?
Her reaction, though, was unexpected.
"Hey."
She shoved her hand into empty air. As if rummaging through an invisible pocket, she fished something out and stuffed it into my shirt pocket with a soft thump.
"This enough?"
What she'd pulled free was a ruby the size of a fist.
No — not a ruby.
"W-what is this?"
"A rock that was sitting next to a dragon's heart when I killed it a while back. Looked pretty, so I picked it up. Sell it outside and you could buy a whole building in Gangnam."
"……"
"My subspace is piled high with stuff like this. The government tried to confiscate it, but I told them it'd self-destruct if anyone touched it, so they couldn't take it."
She snorted and patted my freshly tied necktie with two firm taps.
"So stop worrying about money. You just show up with your body. Got it?"
I toyed with the heavy stone in my pocket. This woman was the real deal — a walking conglomerate.
"I pledge my loyalty, Big Sis."
"Big Sis, my ass. Call me Master."
And with that, the necktie was finished.
"Done."
She gave my chest a light shove. The finished knot was even more crooked than before — tight enough to practically choke me.
"Perfect."
She praised herself without a shred of shame.
"Don't untie this. Untie it and I'll kill you."
"……I can't breathe."
"Deal with it. It's my sincerity."
She crumpled my collar in her fist and spoke low.
"Go and come back."
"Yes."
"Don't wander off somewhere else. Don't come back smelling like anything."
Her crimson eyes looked up at me. Possessiveness mixed with a strange unease in that gaze. Was last night's nightmare still holding onto her?
On impulse, I lifted a hand and stroked her hair.
"I'll be right back."
"……!"
She flinched, eyes going wide. Daring to put a hand on a witch's head — that was the kind of stunt that could get your wrist cut off without complaint. But she didn't swat me away. Instead, she dipped her head slightly and accepted the touch.
"……You're full of yourself."
She grumbled. But the corner of her mouth had curled up.
"Get lost already. Disappear from my sight."
She shoved me in the back. I left the duty room as if being driven out. Just before the door closed, I caught her murmuring under her breath.
"……I'll be waiting."
Inside the elevator bound for the Director's office, I looked in the mirror and sighed.
"……This isn't a necktie. It's a leash."
The knot Elise had so carefully tied was strangling my throat to perfection. Every breath came with a choked little catch. I wanted to loosen it. But her blood-chilling warning — untie it and I'll kill you — still rang in my ears, so I didn't dare touch it.
Right. This is all part of the five-billion-won hazard pay.
I consoled myself and straightened my clothes.
Ding—
Top floor. Director's Office.
The moment the doors opened, a cold so sharp it felt like I'd been dropped in the middle of Siberia slammed into me.
"Come in."
Director Seo Jisu's voice carried from inside before I could even knock. I opened the door and stepped through.
A spacious office. Beyond the floor-to-ceiling glass, a blue artificial sky. And colder still than that sky, Seo Jisu sat behind her desk.
"Warden Kang Jinsoo. Report."
She spoke without lifting her eyes from the documents. I stood at attention.
"Inmate 001. Current condition stable. Appetite good, sleep pattern good. As for notable particulars……"
"Notable particulars?"
"……She likes ramen."
Seo Jisu's hand stopped. She pushed her glasses up and looked at me.
"Ramen?"
"Yes. Two packs of Shin Ramyun, with rice mixed in."
"……An S-rank palate conquered by cheap instant noodles. Unexpected."
She gave a short snort of laughter, set down her pen, and propped her chin on her hand. Those blue eyes raked me from head to toe — and locked onto the crooked necktie choking my throat.
"That tie."
"Ah. Yes."
"Is that your taste? Very…… avant-garde."
"No, ma'am. Inmate 001 tied it herself."
I told her the truth. Seo Jisu's eyebrow twitched.
"Herself? That germaphobe actually touched someone else's clothes?"
"She even threatened to kill me if I untied it."
"Hmm."
Seo Jisu rose from her seat and walked toward me. Click. Click. The sound of her heels rang against the ice-cold floor. When she came right up to my face, a chill and a refined musk scent arrived with her.
"Excuse me a moment."
She reached out and took hold of my necktie.
"It's far too tight. You're cutting off circulation."
Her cold fingers brushed the nape of my neck. If Elise's touch had been a brand of hot iron, Seo Jisu's was a shard of sharp ice. With practiced ease, she loosened the knot just enough.
"Haa…… Thank you. I can breathe again."
"001 has no handiwork. All strength, no finesse — she just cinches it like a brute."
She finished adjusting the tie and murmured low.
"Warden Kang Jinsoo."
"Yes."
"You are my employee. Not 001's toy."
"I'm well aware."
"So don't let yourself get pushed around. You need to hold the initiative."
She gave my necktie a light tap.
"And take this."
From the desk she picked up a black card and held it out to me.
"What is this?"
"001's maintenance budget. Don't just feed her ramen — buy her whatever she wants to eat, whatever she wants to wear. Don't worry about the budget."
"Unlimited?"
"Compared to the money 001 brings in, it's pocket change. Swipe it as much as you like."
Oh. So this was financial therapy.
I accepted the card with both hands, respectfully.
"Understood. I'll treat her like the S-rank she is."
"Good. You're dismissed."
She slipped back into cold Director mode and picked up her documents. I bowed and left the office. Just before the door shut, I caught her muttering to herself.
"……That necktie. Tacky."
Back on Basement 1, the duty room. The moment I opened the door, the familiar heat welcomed me.
Elise was sprawled on her stomach on the bed, watching a movie on a tablet.
"You're back?"
She turned only her head to look at me. But her expression was off. She sat bolt upright, then strode straight over.
Sniff. Sniff.
She buried her nose in my chest and took a deep breath — like a wife inspecting a husband who'd come home from an affair.
"Hey."
"Yes?"
"You smell disgusting."
Her brow crumpled hard.
"A cold smell. And…… expensive perfume."
Uncanny woman. The scent must have clung when Director Seo Jisu fixed my tie.
"I told you I was going to report to the Director."
"Just a report? You didn't do anything else?"
"Anything else? I just stood there and talked."
"Liar."
She yanked my necktie.
"This. It's loose. Who touched it?"
"Ah, that……"
"That bitch touched it, didn't she? Didn't she?"
Fwoosh!
Her hair flared a vivid red. Not so much rage as jealousy.
"Filthy. Take it off."
"Excuse me?"
"I can't stand looking at something that woman touched. Take it off right now so I can burn it."
She started roughly undoing the necktie. I scrambled to stop her.
"Please calm down! I brought this instead!"
I pulled the black card Seo Jisu had given me from my pocket and held it up.
"A corporate card! It has no limit!"
"……?"
Elise froze. She stared at the card, then snorted.
"So what. I've got money too."
"But this is free. We can buy whatever you want with the Director's money."
"Free?"
Her ears seemed to perk. Of course — Koreans are weak to free stuff. And witches, it turned out, couldn't resist a freebie either.
"I can buy anything?"
"Yes. Clothes, food, game consoles — whatever."
"Hmm."
Her anger cooled a notch. She flung the necktie to the floor, went back to the bed, and sat.
"Get over here. We're shopping."
She opened a shopping app on the tablet. I exhaled in relief and sat beside her.
"Clothes first. I hate this prison jumpsuit — it's itchy."
She tapped into the luxury section. Cha—, Gu—, Hermè—. She started sweeping clothes into the cart whose price tags had more zeros than I could count.
"This one's pretty. Add it. This too. That one."
"Inmate, are you even checking the sizes?"
"Dunno. If it doesn't fit, I'll just burn it. It's not my money anyway."
Cool enough to be cold. Director Seo Jisu, I'm sorry. This month's budget is about to get annihilated.
After a long stretch of shopping, her finger stopped. The men's section filled the screen.
"……"
She scrolled in silence, then clicked on a shirt. A clean white linen button-down.
"Hey."
"Yes."
"What's your size?"
"I wear a hundred, but why?"
"Add it."
She dropped the shirt into the cart. Then pants, a jacket — even underwear — all men's, all going in.
"Uh, Inmate? I can buy my own clothes."
"Shut up. I just don't want to look at that rag you're wearing."
She shot me a sidelong glance, scowled at the frayed cuff of my old uniform sleeve, and scowled harder.
"If my air conditioner walks around looking shabby, it tanks my status. This is quality control."
"……"
"And."
She pointed at the screen. A necktie sat there. A red silk necktie.
"Buy this too. Ditch the one that woman touched and wear this."
"This one's a bit expensive."
"I said buy it. I'm going to tie it for you."
She said it shamelessly. But I saw it. When she picked out my clothes, she deliberated far more carefully than when she chose her own. She even read the reviews thoroughly and checked whether the fabric was soft.
Unexpected.
I'd thought she was a selfish witch who only cared about herself. Had my worn-out clothes been bothering her?
"Thank you. I'll wear them well."
"Hmph. Don't get the wrong idea. I'm just taking pity on you and throwing you a bone."
She grumbled and hit the checkout button.
Transaction approved
"……Fifty-eight million?"
I rubbed my eyes. A few outfits had blown past the price of a car. If Director Seo Jisu found out, she'd grab the back of her neck and collapse.
"When does it arrive? Tomorrow?"
"If we send it by courier, it should be here this evening."
"Good. The second it gets here, you're doing a fashion show. Be ready."
She bounced her feet on the bed, delighted. She looked so much like a spoiled little girl that a smile rose to my face on its own.
"Don't smile. It creeps me out."
"I'm just happy. Because you're looking after me."
"……Idiot."
She threw a pillow in my face.
But it didn't hurt.